WHITE PAPER: The Digital 3 Seas Initiative: a Call for a Cyber Upgrade of Regional Cooperation

18 June 2018

The Three Seas (also known as the Three Seas Initiative, 3SI) is a political and economic project inaugurated in 2016 that aims to deepen the integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and strengthen their position in the European Union.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The Three Seas comprises 12 EU countries and 114 million of citizens dwelling upon the territory accounting for over 28 percent of the EU and generating GDP worth USD 1.6 trillion. The ever-changing global security architecture renders the region increasingly vital for actors as varied as the U.S., Great Britain, China or Russia. Upgrading the Three Seas Initiative by strengthening the digital component, that exists next to transportation and energy components and adding cybersecurity dimension may have geopolitical and geoeconomic consequences far beyond the CEE borders.

WHAT IS THE DIGITAL 3 SEAS INITIATIVE ?

The Digital 3 Seas is a portfolio of cross-border projects and initiatives that aim to develop digital infrastructure, joint investments and R&D, as well as political and legislative concepts implemented at the EU level. The central idea is the incorporation of the security by design concept into the digital transition of the public and the private sector. The Digital 3 Seas builds upon transport and energy infrastructure networks that constitute the backbone of the Three Seas Initiative and supplements it with a cyber dimension. Development of digital infrastructure in the face of 5G era, joint investments in state-of-the-art technologies such as IoT, blockchain and AI, deepen strategic and tactical cooperation to tackle cyberthreats and disinformation are in the core areas of the Digital 3 Seas Initiative.